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Murder defendant faces trial in 35-year-old OKC homicide

During a preliminary hearing Friday for a murder defendant charged in a 35-year-old Oklahoma City homicide, one witness testified he was told by the defendant to put on loud music to muffle the sound of a shotgun blast.

The witness said Raul Sierra, his cocaine dealer, told him to play "Abracadabra" by Steve Miller Band on the vinyl record player. Sierra had a sawed-off shotgun and wanted to kill one of his drug runners, who was "passed out" on a couch, the witness told an Oklahoma County judge.

In an attempt to "add some levity" to the situation, the witness, instead, asked Sierra, "How bought 'Stayin' Alive' by the Bee Gees?"

After the song began to play, the witness, John Walters, and his wife were told to go to the back bedroom of their house, according to his testimony.

Sierra, now 66, is accused of then fatally shooting the drug runner, Wilfredo Roberto Matos Osorio, then 23. Sierra was arrested in December in New Orleans in connection with the 1982 killing, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Prosecutors then charged Sierra with first-degree murder in the cold case. On Friday, while shackled and dressed in an orange jail uniform, Sierra pleaded not guilty to the offense.

Friday's preliminary hearing concluded with Special Judge Mark McCormick finding enough evidence to send Sierra to trial. The shooting is alleged to have occurred in November 1982, sometime around Thanksgiving.

Another witness, Michael Huffman, testified for prosecutors Friday. Huffman, who said he was selling cocaine for Sierra at the time, told the judge the defendant killed Osorio because the victim allegedly raped or attempted to rape two different women. Huffman said he was at the Oklahoma City couple's house when the shooting occurred.

Osorio died from a close contact shotgun wound to the head, the state medical examiner reported. Huffman said he saw Sierra with the shotgun but couldn't remember if he actually witnessed Sierra pull the trigger.

Huffman said another man, known as "C.L.," also shot the victim in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol.

"C.L. went over and popped a cap," Huffman said.

The other shooter has been identified as Claude Luther Allen, the OSBI reported. Allen, though, is now dead, authorities reported.

Victim found

At the time of the homicide, Sierra was involved with bringing cocaine and marijuana to Oklahoma City from Miami, Florida, through drug runners, one of whom was Osorio, an OSBI special agent reported in a court affidavit. Both men were Cuban immigrants and sold drugs to the Oklahoma City couple, according to the affidavit.

Osorio borrowed the couple's vehicle to travel to Miami to pick up drugs, witnesses testified. When he returned, he fell asleep on the couple's couch. After the shooting, Sierra and Allen dumped the body, the agent reported.

Osorio's body was found Nov. 28, 1982, on the embankment of a bridge in Pottawatomie County, the agent reported.

OSBI reported biological evidence taken from the home in 1982 was unable to provide many leads and the case went cold. New testing in 2015 of blood stains found on the ceiling of the home tested positive for Osorio, according to the affidavit.

Kyle Schwab has been a reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper since 2013. He currently covers Oklahoma City courts. He graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a major in journalism. He lives in Edmond.
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